


False Positives

by Bobbie23



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Episode: s06e09 Allegiance, F/M, squint for ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:08:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23771329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bobbie23/pseuds/Bobbie23
Summary: ‘A test result which wrongly indicates that a particular condition or attribute is present’
Relationships: Samantha "Sam" Carter/Jack O'Neill
Comments: 4
Kudos: 52





	False Positives

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer - I don't own, just borrowing. 
> 
> Spoilers for _Allegiance_ (s6, ep9). While not overly shippy, I squinted at one scene. Particularly, the look Sam shot Jack when explaining about false positives. Happy reading.

“What did Sam mean when she said you encountered a false positive with the za’tarc detector?”

Jack’s head snaps up as soon as he hears Jacobs’ quiet question. He throws a quick glance over his shoulder and sure enough, Jacob is closer than Jack thought he was. Sneaky son of a gun. Then he realises he’s Dad. Carter’s dad. 

He inwardly winces. He has two options, play it off as a joke by coming up with some snarky comment. But he has too much respect for Jacob and Carter to do either. Or he can play dumb to figure out how much Jacob actually knows. He doubts Carter would have a casual chat with the former General-slash-Tok’ra operative about the za’tarc testing. Not one Jack would’ve survived anyway.

“Huh?”

He figures his safest bet is to play dumb. Jacob appraises him for a beat and Jack tries his best to act nonchalant.

“A false positive with the detector,” Jacob prompts, rising to his full height. There’s an edge Jack recognises from the conversations he had with Sarah’s father before and after they were married.

“Anise never mentioned it?” Jack keeps that small nuance of surprise in his voice, hoping to sell his little act. Though he doesn’t doubt Anise would forget to mention any problems with her precious machines. She was already struggling to gather support for her research. Omitting false positives would have gone a long way to keeping her experiments going, as well as using Martouf’s autopsy as proof of the mind control. There was a small mercy that she failed to report his and Sam’s confessions.

And, it went a long way to explain why Jacob hasn’t strung him up by his bootstraps before now.

“No, she didn’t. Should she have?”

Jacob playing dumb is more than Jack could hope for or deserves. It leaves a sour taste in his mouth. He has too much respect for Jacob and Carter. Just the day before, Jacob gave him a pep talk about Kanan; trying to temper Jack’s fury with understanding about the Tok’ra symbiote who broke the rules. Jack hadn’t lied. He likes Jacob. He likes Selmac enough that he worked hard to keep the peace between the Tok’ra and Jaffa by reasoning with Bra’tac.

“So, just for clarity,” Jacob leans in. “Would they still detect _anything_ false?”

“Only that we were za’tarcs,” Jack admits. If they retook the test today, nothing would be different; the outcome would still be the same. Same admissions, same fears. He still cares about Carter.

Jacob’s expression softens into something akin to sympathy as Jack feels his throat catching. He swallows and looks away as the need to offer a better explanation, some assurance. “Look, Jacob, nothing has ever happened…”

Jacob holds up a hand to stop him. His face clouds over and it’s hard to distinguish approval battling the mindset of the former General. 

“You’re a good man, Jack,” the words are uttered quietly as Jacob pats his shoulder before he leaves the tent. “That’s not always a positive experience."


End file.
